The Week Ahead: May 22-29

Time is running out………..Patience is running out…………………Money is running out…. ……………………………Love, is running out.

[art: catrin welz stein]This week, as the Sun moves into Gemini, our conscious way of expression turns its attention to the vivacious and breezy world of thoughts and ideas and putting them into forms that can transport them from one place to another. We shift from Taurus’ stolid, earthy preoccupation with holding substance to being able to barter and trade it using the rhetoric of cold-hard facts, pure data; a world where every word is seen for the honour and importance it can convey during this very special Solar month in Gemini. We will soon see many abstractions, fantasies and exaggerations – anything that does not align with what is respected as literal, word-for-word, line-by-line evidence become discredited. Information must be clear, transparent and open to comprehension and scrutiny.

Here’s the main transits for this week:

☊ ⊼ Ch

Wed May 24

11:46 pm GMT

Node

28°♌16’℞

Quincunx

Chiron

28°♓16′

☉ Sqq ♇

Thu May 25

03:12 am GMT

Sun

04°♊07′

Sesquiquadrate

Pluto

19°♑07’℞

♀ □ ♇

Thu May 25

04:17 pm GMT

Venus

19°♈06′

Square

Pluto

19°♑06’℞

☽ ☌ ☉

Thu May 25

07:45 pm GMT

Moon

04°♊47′

Conjunction

Sun

04°♊47′

☿ Sqq ♄

Thu May 25

11:56 pm GMT

Mercury

10°♉58′

Sesquiquadrate

Saturn

25°♐58’℞

♀ ☌ Pa

Fri May 26

03:25 pm GMT

Venus

19°♈58′

Conjunction

Pallas

19°♈58′

☿ ∠ Ch

Sat May 27

05:22 pm GMT

Mercury

13°♉21′

Semisquare

Chiron

28°♓21′

☿ ⊼ ♃

Sat May 27

07:18 pm GMT

Mercury

13°♉28′

Quincunx

Jupiter

13°♎28’℞

☿ ∗ ♆

Sun May 28

07:04 am GMT

Mercury

14°♉10′

Sextile

Neptune

14°♓10′

The Gemini Sun’s continued semi-square to Venus (in Aries) over this next month means that those ‘holding the microphone’, or speaking with authority, may not necessarily feel appreciated in their efforts to get their ideas across. With Mars also in Gemini, what manifests is a largely argumentative style of delivery that is short-fused, less than gracious, curt and sometimes fiercely defensive when attempts to get ideas across feel either thwarted or not well received.

Patience for nonsense is running out at this juncture of the piece.

[art: catrin welz stein]The real dilemma comes when on Thursday, hours before the New Moon, when the Sun meets Pluto by sesquisquare – an aspect which demands ideas be threshed out and grounded before they come under serious public scrutiny. Secrets and any details about nefarious activities may come to light now, affecting reputation and respectability in communicating facts.

Since Venus is already unsupportive to the Sun during these next six weeks, her square to Pluto only guarantees that relations will become more than just a little snappy and uncouth this week. In fact, if we don’t remain centred and grounded, reactions between us could turn extremely nasty on the love/hate scale. This transit is the first-quarter square of a cycle that commenced on November 25 , 2016 (♀☌ ♇) and will culminate on August 15, when Venus opposes Pluto.

We all wish to be loved; we all want to have our desires satisfied; our hearts each wish to experience some level of peace and tranquility with our world. With Venus currently in Aries, we are choosing to do this in much more autonomous, self-centred ways. From time to time these desires become hijacked by external temptations – relationships that come along to offer us things we cannot resist, deny or even refuse, but can also not immediately afford. On the surface, these temptations offer us more than what our basic situation ever promises to satisfy – there is promise of more power, control, status, wealth, marriage, security, intensity, orgasm, life-changes etc, – these are the common themes of Pluto on Venus. However, to have them we must trade something off, and since we often don’t have it ready in present time, we agree to become somehow indebted.

[art: catrin welz stein]Here is where the nasty starts to infiltrate.

Any ♀/♇ deal can feel so deliciously enticing that we can easily fall prey to its hypnotic trance to take our lives to a new level of happiness and well-being. Yet, as soon as we agree to enter it, we become so deeply entwined that we momentarily resign all interest to the spirit of what will make our soul truly feel happy and free. Even if we refuse, we may feel the damning force of its abandonment, which can be just as heavy. In any case, our hearts become not only distracted or sidetracked – when Pluto enters the Venus deal, it has the power to completely derail the way we naturally show our love and kindness.

By the time we finally come to suspect that whatever we have got ourselves mixed up in doesn’t exactly align with our heart’s true desire nature it is often too late. We may have already changed too much, given away too much of our freedom to ever go back. The realisation is often accompanied by deep, inner feelings of dread and of complete devastation. Realising that we may have paid a bitter price for becoming fanatically consumed by the lust/power principle; feeling possessed with toxic and unhealthy behavioural dynamics in our natural yearning to feel loved, satisfied or at peace; accepting that we have allowed our pristine, virginal intent to become sullied or corrupted by forces that now govern over the destiny of our hearts, it is not surprising that we would react in extremely explosive ways in attempt to break out of any foreboding bonds.

Naturally, the manifestations of any strains and stresses in our relationships can produce enormous drama that seems to erupt out of nowhere. The spirit’s cry to break free of the ego’s binding arrangements, agreements, attachments or addictions creates such a mechanisms for release that it sets the scene for massive psychological breakdowns down the road. If these are not detected and negotiated (through counselling or some form of compassionate pardon) they build into enormous pressure points, ready to explode at the the slightest triggering further down the road.

At this point, as is indicated by the Venus/Pluto aspects to the New Moon, the entire of humanity is undergoing tremendous transformations in its value system. These may not seem obvious to many at this point. However, those who care to look at the greater trends would observe that individuals are becoming increasingly more intolerant of anyone’s attempts to apply yesterday’s values into today’s deals. As the Gemini Sun reveals, we begin to see and articulate more clearly that what we have based yesterday’s value system upon does not hold the same weight or worth today. The inflated ideas (☿ ⊼ ♃) that we carry and inflict upon each other as words of judgement (☿ Sqq ♄) are not about love and understanding (☿ ∗ ♆) but about some form of wounding (☿ ∠ Ch) which feeds this system of enslavement.

We see that basing our idea of love upon the fanatical pursuit of insipid values – particularly around achieving status and self-importance – makes the promise of peace and well-being together look increasingly pale and highly implausible (♀ □ ♇). To most – especially those not feeling secure within their own self-worth, this deflates a certain confidence to extend oneself further. This affects the whole market confidence. This affects the global financial and emotional economy.

Yet, what to do, when humanity still sits under all these binding agreements of indebtedness?

Such is the dilemma of this Venus squaring Pluto this week. Realising that we are under the pull of a force that has the power to control and manipulate where we must invest our loyalties and heart interests in the future is sure to create great conflict, a seething unrest, either within us or between others. Our entire value system becomes compromised, corrupted and defrayed as we see our buy-in leaves us little room to buy our way out.

Expressed through Thursday’s Gemini New Moon, we see the hidden, angry and impulsive forces loading up inside us to either ruin and deface personal things or to defend them at all costs from such threats. In our relationships we see how exposure to destructive rages, especially in our partnerships. These come from imbalances causes through possessive, jealous and manipulative behaviour. Geopolitically we see more evidence of the deterioration and corruption of society’s entire fabric, where miscommunication, lies, denials and cover-ups threaten to destroy what remains of the structure of our civilisation.

These are not terribly positively sounding manifestations, but to be realistical, we are witnessing these everywhere – from your own interpersonal dealings to the lampoonish depictions on the nightly news of what presents as world politics, especially in the United States. We understand that something is definitely slipping, if not collapsing entirely. We all blame the media, but in fact – in practice – we are all the media now. Our ability to transmit and propagate news is there in our hands. So is our ability to distort and use the power of our word in false, misinforming and misleading ways to get what we want. This practice has now taken on epidemic proportions.

In the past week we have seen much evidence of how the system can be corrupted to the point where things seem beyond restructuring.

What you are experiencing , though not terribly pleasant, is a necessary part of the evolutionary process.
Things must deteriorate. Structures must become so disrupted that they can no longer stand to be trusted to hold us up. Ultimately, we must learn to stand on our own, without the structures.

[art: catrin welz stein]We cannot rely on props, attachments, accessories and accoutrements to make contact with our beautiful inner spirit. No baggage, regardless of how stuffed with cash or sexy promises about security can buy our way into the core of your being in present tense. Only love, acceptance and compassion can allow us the freedom to access our hearts, fully and unconditionally in real time, the only place where you have a choice on how to invest your emotional energy.

As the week progresses, our capacity to at least see where the big problems lie gives us some hope on where and how we can focus our intentions at this week’s New Moon. The big transit for the following week is Mars’ T-square to Saturn/Chiron (exact May 31) . How tragically is our masculine maligned and distorted in his truth that he feels he must continues to perpetuate stories of shame, blame and humiliation into his actions? Our aim to actively disengage from the peace process by arguing that we are ‘better or worse’, ‘right or wrong’, ‘good or evil’ only creates division among us and proliferates pain and wounding through insults and derogatory labelling and childish name-calling. All this will rise up to the surface in the next weeks, until is swell like a subdermal boil whose pus needs to be surgically released before it explodes.

Meanwhile, the feminine herself struggles to hold the masculine in her arms. She must find the the perfect moment to openly, publically begin the healing process by calling an end to all this unnecessary labelling and judging of others, always with intent to condemn and belittle what has always been great.

For now, the debate continues on how best to address any politics, religion or philosophy that seeks to hold one tribe, one group or one human being as superior and another as chastised and inferior. We must look to our words. Our ideas hold all the poison and all the antidote to our continued troubles. To expand on Lincoln – a race divided against itself cannot stand.